Jobless man allegedly steals CUC copper wire

A brother’s tip to a police detective led to the arrest over the weekend of a jobless man who allegedly stole copper wire from the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s power pole on Capital Hill.

Police recovered two rolls of copper wire and three metal hot clamps belonging to CUC during a follow-up investigation.

Police said that Barry G. Lizama confessed to stealing the copper wire and metal hot clamps in an interview with a police detective.

Lizama, 40, was taken to Superior Court yesterday for his initial appearance on charges of theft and violating an order of court protection.

Associate Judge Kenneth L. Govendo retained the $10,000 cash bail and set the preliminary hearing for Oct. 23 at 9am. Chief Public Defender Douglas Hartig served as counsel for Lizama. Assistant attorney general Barbara Cepeda appeared for the government.

Police detective Catherine B. Pangelinan stated in her report that she and three other police officers responded to a theft and contempt of court complaints at a residence along King Fisher Road on Capital Hill on Friday morning.

Pangelinan said that, according to the two complainants, their brother Lizama was sleeping inside their mother’s house when in fact he was not supposed to be there as there is a court order of protection against him.

A brother also told Pangelinan that Lizama stole some CUC copper wire and hid them in the grassy area just north of their house. The brother directed Pangelinan to the area where the copper wire was hidden.

Pangelinan said that, according to the brother, he was inside his room on Oct. 1, 2015, at 10am when he saw through the window their mother’s car backing up toward their front yard. The brother then saw Lizama get out of the driver’s side, unload from the trunk two rolls of copper wire, and place them in the grassy area.

Later that morning, Pangelinan said, a CUC line crew appeared at the residence and identified the copper wire as CUC property. One roll of copper wire is called stranded wire number 6, while the other roll is solid number 8. The crew said the three metal hot clamps, which cannot be found in stores, hold the wires on the top of the utility pole.

During an interview with a police detective, Lizama reportedly admitted stealing the copper wire by cutting them from a CUC pole by the road just west of their house. The suspect also confessed to taking the metal clamps and a business panel box from an abandoned building in Gualo Rai.